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WIP: Duergar's forge

So, my players have bitten a side quest I dangled their way... It is based on the adventure "Sacred shrine".

I decided that the last encounter was in a large forge. I also added the necromancer, that is mentioned in the adventure but that the player never actually meet otherwise...

My idea is that both the chief Duergar and the necromancer turn invisible, then, when the players enter, they ambush them, and call forth the skeletons that were lying in ambush in the ambers on the right.
As I plan it, the necromancer will cast "enlarge" on the biggest skeleton that will grow out of the ambers, trailling the other two clutch its clavicules bones...

It will be a pretty cool scene, I think and will be a good lesson for my players... So far, they haven't fought anything much smarter than an orc and being out-maneuvered and ambushed might teach them some prudence...

I still need to put a lot of work on the furniture (that will come from dundjinni), and to play with the shadows and light effects, this map should be rich with these...

Right now, I only made the shadows for the two anvils, mostly to see how it looked... I tried doing some light effects on the stone margin of the northern fire, but I need to rework it...
I also wanted to light up the side of the anvil facing that source of light, but the results are crap and I need to redo it...

Thats a great encounter set up. The anvils look great as do the shadows. The embers in the forges look a little tiled as the pattern repeats itself quite a lot. Lighting is one of those "black magic" things. I can spend hours working on a lighting effect only to decide that I don't like it. I can give you a couple of tips though. When I need something to be really dark with a dramatic light effect I use what I call a "dark layer" usually a layer of black set to either "overlay" or "soft light" I mess with the opacity until I get what I'm looking for. Then you can make a layer of bright light (in this case over your forges) and then with a big soft eraser with a fuzzy brush erase over the forges to reveal the light source. A blur on both layers helps blend it together. This looks like it's going to be a lot of fun to follow.

I am the breath of Dragons...The Song of Mountains...The Stories of Rivers....The Heart of Cities.... I am A Cartographer....

Like JT says there is no one way to do it lighting, but here is my advice:

-light on side of forges: good start here; the reason its not looking great is due to the fact that you have added highlights but no shadows. The northern forge looks good but you should reduce the size of the highlights to 1/3 of the thickness like the southern one. Then add a layer over this, where you draw with a fat fuzzy black paintbrush over the western third of each forge. Then reduce the opacity to c. 30% to create a shadow layer. The reason you would not use as overlay layer to create this shadow layer is because it would intensify the already-saturated colour of the forge edge.

- Like JT says the anvils really do look great. The shadows are unrealistic but that's ok. They are also too fuzzy - they need to be sharpened-up by 50% to look more like anvils from the side, and perhaps you can lighten the shadows very slightly. The lighting effect on the northern anvil is very good (I don't know why you are not happy with it - I love it!) and should be added to the southern one. After this, add a second highlight layer using the colour orange and set on overlay (60% opacity) and with a small fuzzy brush go over the sharp edges of the anvil closest to the flame. Then do it again (but don't duplicate) with a very pale yellow. That should work. Also add these yellow-red highlights to the edge of the forge stonework to a lesser extent.

- Agree with JT on the flames. The colour is very good though ; it just needs a little variety - add several layers of patchy black overlays (maybe using a 'turbulent' plasma-filter layer mask or similar) to deepen and darken the fire colour in places.

-shadows and highlights - just add a LOT of these, doing them all by hand. I'd start off with a lighter floor shade, and add a hint of brown/beige to the floor (tip: increase the brightness and contrast of your floor layer quite a bit, then add a layer of pale browny-beige-orange on top set to burn and 40% opacity, it should work) to fit in with the forge edges. Then layer on your shadows and highlight if you add too much colour to the floor you will need to make your shadow layers normal rather than overlay).

-I made some fiery-shadowy maps a while ago that might give you some ideas - follow the link to my Nightwyrm Fortress maps below and check out maps D1-D5.

-Keep the furniture sparse. Don't go for a cluttered realistic forge with dundjinni furniture - the clash of colours and styles will make the map look crap. If I were you I would add nothing to this map at all.

I think that I took just about all your advices into consideration (well, I did had a bit more furniture, but I wanted some stuff to bounce light off)...

I did change the floor for a brownish one and even hand made a few cracks in some tiles (although that might be tough to see...).
I also changed the rock surrounding the room, but it might be a bit too dark now... I'll have to see if I can lighten it a bit...

Anyway, sorry I can't give more details, but it is way past my bed time... I just wanted to post this tonight...

By the way jacktannery, thanks for your maps, these are truly awe inspiring...

Those forge embers look awesome now. I would blur the dark layer around them a little so there isn't such a hard edge. It is also VERY dark. You might consider lowering the opacity of that layer a bit so that you can have shadows. This is really turning out great.

I am the breath of Dragons...The Song of Mountains...The Stories of Rivers....The Heart of Cities.... I am A Cartographer....

Ok, I did separate the darkness layer into the wall and the floor one, that way I can adjust both levels of darkness individually and get a bit more contrast between the two.
I did lower the opacity of the "darkness" layer on top of the room, as you suggested, and blurred the mask a fair bit more...

Here it is:

Anything else ypu can recommend?

By the way jtougas, because you are interested in encounter design... I am now thinking about making the necromancer a passing Tiefling, that way he could stay back into the embers (Tieflings have resistance against fire damage) and let the fire keep the heroes at bay while he slings his spells...
I was also thinking about using a Tiefling bad guy in the next adventure, so I am not quite sure yet but it seems almost too good to let pass...

I think that looks awesome. This turned out great and that's a good idea for the encounter. Your characters will have a tough time getting to the tiefling hiding in the embers.

Well, one of the party member actually is a Tiefling (in fact the Tiefling necromancer is her uncle and the second hint of an unfolding sub-plot involving her backstory) and I suspect the party barbarian will just rage through the ember and not care about the fire... But it should be fun!